Sect raided after reports of child abuse

Chances of a violent stand-off with sect leaders diminished after officials were reluctantly granted access to the YFZ Ranch, established in 2004 by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Police began removing women and girls on Friday and continued on Saturday when tensions peaked.

A SWAT team was called to check the sect's temple but there was no violence and no arrests. About 200 women and children have been removed from the compound, built by followers of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and named after a song written by him, Yearning For Zion.

It is not known whether the 16-year-old girl who alerted authorities last week, claiming she had been physically abused, was among those removed.

Many of the girls living at the compound in Eldorado are related to one another and have similar names.